an interesting question: what’s more important to smartphone users today: access to TikTok, or blue bubbles in iMessage?

Will this precipitate a market share shift from iPhone to Android in the U.S.?

@AngeloStavrow For most users, it must be TikTok… Although for me, iMessage an Android would be huge. I don’t think we’ll see an actual shift from this, but I do think sideloading will eventually happen, and these little things chip away at Apple’s locked approach.

@yostos @AngeloStavrow I’m cautiously optimistic about RCS. I sent an Android user a message a couple weeks ago with RCS and it was fast and I got a read indication right away. Big improvement over SMS.

@yostos I don’t believe that many EU citizens want sideloading. I even assume that the vast majority don’t even know what it is.
It would be interesting to know how many European Android users use sideloading (and how many have caught malware from it…).

@yostos
I did not mean to imply that F-Droid is unsafe.

In contrast to the alternative app stores for iOS, the Android world is completely unregulated, and app stores with questionable offerings are possible.

And at this point, we should not lose sight of the fact that even platforms like npm have unknowingly distributed malware.

Sideloading is also the direct loading of APKs from websites or other sources. And I fear that unpleasant things are circulating here.

You mentioned Threema. What is the background here?

When RCS works, it works great. Problem is it’s so inconsistent between carriers and Android manufacturers that it’s hard to count on it actually working.

@SteveSawczyn That’s too bad. After I commented about RCS, just today I actually got another text that said RCS, but my reply seemed to go over SMS, which I guess proves your point.

@yostos @AngeloStavrow Apple’s RCS implementation is based on the standard. I don’t think Apple is hesitant to support RCS after its announcement.

As for encryption, Google’s is non-standard. It would take awhile for Apple, Google and the GSMA to agree the encryption protocol to be added to RCS.

Unfortunately, carriers are too slow to adopt RCS on iOS.

@rom Hopefully the encryption gets sorted out, even if it takes a while. Can’t imagine another 5+ years going by without better messaging across platforms.

@yostos I see the topic of sideloading independently of the current situation surrounding TikTok.

Sideloading is not inherently unsafe; it offers significant advantages but also carries risks. Risks that curated app stores can largely, but not comprehensively, protect against.

The app stores have significant downsides: unacceptable content interventions (Apple, Google?), privacy issues, as well as financial hurdles (at least with Apple).

I am disappointed that individual OSS apps are not available in the Apple App Store because the necessary paid accounts pose a barrier for the developer. In such cases, I would like to be able to obtain the apps from an alternative channel.

I agree with you that the central problem is the literacy of the users.

Some know the pros and cons of sideloading, can assess the risks, and can evaluate the reliability of the alternative source.

I fear that many users lack this ability, and the temptation to get a cool, paid app for free will lead to careless and consequential clicks.

Do you believe it will be possible to develop the necessary competence among users? I am very skeptical and believe that the majority of users are well served by the app stores.

@yostos I agree. well, at least there is Signal :)

@yostos I do not believe that the literacy of users in the EU is generally higher than in Japan.

From my perspective, the EU primarily acts out of the intention to break up monopolies.

As an EU citizen, for example, I have to select the web browser again with every iOS minor release. In my view, this goes against the needs of the users.

The image of iOS users in Japan that you described should, in my opinion, also fit the EU.

@yostos There is a one time cost for Threema that turns off a lot, specially when Signal is free and an alternative (except that Signal servers are in the US).

Thanks for the link, will try to see how good free translation services are. :)